The Plumbline

We sometimes get into a pickle and then wonder how on earth we got ourselves where we stand at the moment, right?  What we do in those moments is "look back".  We are trying to figure out what brought us to this point - because we really don't know where we "slipped up".  Truth be told, we do this more often than we'd like to admit - finding ourselves "looking back" for that moment in time when we made the choice to go one way when we were being beckoned another.  Probably one of the most telling things we will discover is not some "point" where we slipped up, but in what it was we allowed "into" our lives at that point.  We allowed something to invade our lives which actually "ran interference" with the truths we knew to be true, or the choices we knew to be right.  When a football team assigns someone to "run interference" they are asking that individual or group of individuals to divert the attention of th...

We all have appointments we have to keep, right?  This last week, I took a day off to run my mom to several appointments - dentist and eye doctor.  The dental appointment at least allowed me to shop a little for a few things we needed as there was a store nearby.  The eye doctor - what a wait!  To me, the 4 hour wait almost made it appear as though there was no appointment at all!  I have been "squeezed in" to see the doctor in times past, so this was cruel and unusual punishment just sitting in the huge waiting room with other disgruntled patients "in waiting".  Appointments are "planned events", right? There is a specific time and place - the parties agree to the meeting.  So, why the wait?  The appointment allows both parties to be ready for the purpose of the meeting.  So, why is it we are sometimes "ill-prepared" for some of the most significant appointments of a "divine" nature which have been arranged for our lives? Jesus answe...

God values a pure heart and gracious speech.  A pure heart speaks of purity of emotions and intellect.  Most of us struggle with this just because of all the "influence" we experience from the stuff working overtime to bombard our brains with input.  Guarding what gets IN affects what will indeed eventually come OUT.  Gracious speech speaks of the words which some might call "tactful" - marked by kindness, courtesy, and mercy.  In other words, they reveal genuine compassion.  These words are pleasing and bring "satisfaction" to he ears of the one hearing them.  We see God speak often of the condition of the heart and the outflow of the mouth - linking the outflow to what has first been cultivated by what we take in. God  loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken;   good leaders also delight in their friendship.   God   guards knowledge with a passion,   but he’ll have nothing to do with deception.   Young people are prone t...